


(Class)Room for Improvement

by JABcat3



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: I’ll just tag the ships as they come along, Miraculous Ladybug Salt, Multi, mild swearing, ml salt, post chameleon, whoops I had forgotten to tag a ship, you know what - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JABcat3/pseuds/JABcat3
Summary: After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.





	1. Almost

Marinette stared at the eyes of her classmates, no, her friends, glaring at her. _I think I’m going to be sick._ Smack dab in the middle of them was Lila, sneering at her predicament. Lila’s face twisted as she turned to face the class. “Come on guys, Marinette isn’t in the league with Hawkmoth. It would be positively ridiculous, right? Sure, it would explain all of her absences and the fact that she hasn’t been akumatised and how she’s had it out for me, Ladybug’s best friend, since day one, but…” Lila’s voice trailed off, and Marinette’s classmates’ accusations returned with a renewed force.

“Shame on you Marinette!”

“We thought you were better! This explains everything!”

“Lila has been nothing but kind!”

Marinette’s eyes frantically searched for Adrien. _He has to tell the truth now. Can’t he see how this is hurting me!? He can’t just let this happen. He can’t be that cruel._

Yet, when Marinette’s eyes finally found him in the back, he was frowning, and shaking his head at her. The bitterness and despair clawed at her throat and pooled in her stomach. _Of course._

Her friends crept closer and closer, a furious mob swelling and growing, starting to become louder and almost violent, thinking her to be on the side of a terrorist who would leave all of Paris forever traumatized.

And then Nathaniel and Alix caught sight of her sketchbook. Marinette’s eyes widened as it got snatched from her desk and opened in front of Lila.

“Oh, I can’t possibly ruin this. No one deserves to have their work ruined!” Lila looked down upon the sketchbook almost remorsefully. Almost. And then Alya grabbed a page and tore. “This is for akumatizing me.”

“And me!”

“And me!”

“And me!”

And one by one the pages were ripped out and torn into shreds the remains fluttering down like delicate feathers to Marinette’s feet. Marinette’s vision became blurry and suddenly she needed to get out, to get away from them, from their burning accusations. She ran.

* * *

 

Marinette sat down on a bench in the locker rooms and tried to steady her breathing. It was all too fast and for the first time in a long time she felt alone. _What did I do to deserve this? Everyone hates me. It’s too much. Stop yelling. Stop it! Marinette did this, Marinette did that! Marinette! Marinette!_

“Marinette! Marinette! Are you okay?” Marinette looked up to see Tikki next to her with a concerned look on her face. “Take a deep breath Marinette. That’s it. Okay now let it out. Good.” Tikki’s blue eyes looked into hers. “All of them will pay for hurting you Marinette. I will make sure of that.”

“Tikki, no. Th-”

“Tikki, yes.”

“They are simply confused. And I can always get a new sketchbook for designing. That one was getting full anyway.” Tikki smiled at her softly. “Sorry, but once someone hurts my chosen on purpose, even if they don’t know the whole situation, I make their life living hell.”

A slow creaking sound resonated through the room and Tikki hid in the purse.

“Marinette? I thought I saw you run in here.”

“Adrien? What are you doing here?”

“I- I don’t know. I guess I just came to tell you that I definitely won’t tell them Lila lied now.”

“What?” Marinette almost couldn’t believe it. Almost.

“You let them hurt me. Her lies hurt me. And you’re not going to tell the truth? You’re going to let her continue to ruin my life?”

“You ruined your life. You lied about where you were during akuma attacks. You are the one that has never been akumatized by Hawkmoth. You’re the one that blinded us all while working with him behind our backs. You’re the reason there are so many akumas in our class.” Marinette’s throat was dry. _How could he-_

“You think I was working with Hawkmoth? You think every single thing I’ve done for you guys is a lie?”

“Yes. Why else would you always be gone during akuma attacks? Why else would you have never been akumatized? Why else did you try to prove Lila’s claims as false when it was best to take the high road?”

“Because she threatened me!”

“You can’t expect me to believe you Marinette. Not after all the lies you’ve told. You’re a hypocrite. You manipulated us.” Marinette felt herself grow cold, an indifferent sort of anger taking over her heart and leaving her numb.

“I can’t believe I ever loved you.”

“That’s just another lie you’re telling me to make me pity you.” Adrien glanced over at her suspiciously one more time and left the room, his blond hair no longer being a symbol of joy, but one of dread to Marinette. She sighed and looked at Tikki who had flown out of her purse. “I need to get away. Tikki, spots on.”

* * *

Ladybug sat on top of the Eiffel Tower staring down at Paris. Her fingers itches to have her pencil and sketchbook. Her expression turned sour at the reminder of her destroyed work. They needed to find out the truth, and it couldn’t come from her. After all, they had long given up believing or even considering her words.

“Good evening M’lady. Could I paw-ssibly tell you of this claw-ful afternoon I had?” Ladybug’s eyebrow raised and she gestured to the spot next to her. “Sure. I might feel better, considering my afternoon turned out to be quite horrible too.”

“Oh no! Who do I have to kill? Perhaps I could steal their heart too, since you seem to have taken mine.”

“Stop it Chat. I don’t feel like talking about it and I’m 98% sure that those who wronged me don’t have hearts or brain cells.”

“Meow-ch! Okay, so basically this starts a while back. There was this one girl who lied, right? Only I and this other girl knew that she was lying, but since her lies weren’t hurting anyone, I was like, just go ahead and let her do it. It doesn’t really matter. Anyway the girl who knew didn’t take this advice and today, after the akuma attack, it turned out that that girl who knew lied about where she was. And it soon became clear that she had lied about her location during other akuma attacks. With her also not having been akumatized yet, we figured out that she’s probably working with Hawkmoth and-”

Marinette tunes out her partner as her blood turned cold. This story sounded familiar. So familiar.

“we could possibly question her, but she probably wouldn’t give up any information because she’s manipulative and ruthless like that. Anyway at the end of that whole argument she claimed the girl who lied threatened her and that she was in love with me which is ridiculous because why didn’t she say anything earlier? It was obviously a grab for pity an-”

Marinette felt positively freezing by now.

“Chat, what’s the other girl’s name?”

“What? M’lady, are we trying to find out identities?”

“No. What’s the other girl’s name?”

“Oh, are we going to confront her about Hawkmoth? I think you mentioned that she was your friend so I think this might be a difficult experience for you and all, but-”

“Her name Chat.” She practically had to keep herself from shaking the damn cat. She had never felt herself this angry with him, more so uncomfortable and annoyed by his advances and childlike act in the middle of battles, but if he was who she thought he was, then she knew she would never be able to trust again. Because if he was Adrien Agreste than that meant he also hadn’t been akumatized and lied about where he was during akuma attacks. It meant that he constantly made her masked self uncomfortable and then turned around and betrayed her civilian self. It meant that he would suspect her of helping Hawkmoth and not give her the benefit of the doubt, despite him doing the same.

She finally looked up at him, her eyes pleading.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“I- I have to go.” Ladybug threw her yo-yo and started swinging. She needed to get away. She needed to figure out what to do. She couldn’t deal with this. Not yet anyway.


	2. Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

* * *

“Spots off.” As her transformation dropped, Marinette felt the mental and emotional exhaustion from the day hit her like a truck. “Tikki, I’m going to go to sleep. Wake me up in an hour or so, unless something happens.”

“Okay Marinette. You deserve it. You’ve had quite a long and eventful day.”

“M’lady?”

Marinette’s eyes widened as she turned to see Chat Noir on the rails, staring at her and Tikki. _Well, this just got a lot more complicated._

“It’s you. You’re Ladybug.”

 _Let me guess. Now everything’s okay and we can ride off happily into the sunset._ The bitter thoughts tossed and turned in her head while she glared at the other superhero.

Chat Noir, however, paid no attention to Marinette’s scowling and leaped onto the balcony, his leather-clad form bounding to hug her.

“I’m so happy it’s you! Oh wait, I can reveal my identity too, right?”

“I already know it’s you Adrien.”

“What? You knew I was Chat Noir? How long?” Chat Noir’s excited smile would have once, not so long ago, made her heart leap and skip a beat. Yet now she found ice flowing through her veins at the sight of the giddy superhero.

“I found out when you said I was making an ‘obvious pity grab’ as that was the same thing you said as Adrien.”

“So? Who cares? You’re Ladybug and you said you loved me and I love you. Ooh! We can go on double dates with Alya and Nino an-”

“No! Stop it Adrien. We are not going to become a couple.”

“Why not?” Chat pouted, making kitten eyes at Marinette, his green eyes confused and hopeful and worst of all, filled with a sense of confidence that he could convince her to be his girlfriend.

Marinette felt her head begin to ache. Tikki’s voice piped up next to her and Marinette felt herself relax, knowing that Tikki would support her.

“Adrien. There is a multitude of reasons why she shouldn’t date you and you are not entitled to them. Now please, Marinette really needs to rest. She has a long day ahead of her tomorrow.”

“Is it because of the accusation of working with Hawkmoth, Marinette? Is that why you stopped being in love with me? Because if it is, it’s pretty shallow. I had plenty of good reasons to believe that.”

Marinette was tired and irritated. She couldn’t stand it anymore. _That darn cat wants to know how I feel after all this time, fine._

“You want an explanation. Fine. Let’s start off with how you treated me as Chat Noir. You flirted with me as Marinette and with other females and then claimed me to be your only love. When I constantly kept telling you I didn’t want to be a couple, you still persisted and kept on trying to change my mind, despite my answer being a firm no an-”

“I only did it to get your attention and love, Bugaboo.”

“Don’t call me that. When Frozer attacked, you just kept pouting about my not accepting your rose.”

“That’s only one instance! So I made a mistake, are you going to hold it over my head forever?”

“When Glaciator attacked you had been more upset over my not attending the date that I had warned you I might not be able to attend than you were concerned about cleansing the akuma. After the whole affair you told me you would be fine with being my friend yet you still kept on pushing. Then after the attack of Oblivio, you ignored my feelings about the picture of us kissing.”

“Okay, but I can learn to be better. I can be a better person.”

“Considering how you have been acting in the past few days, I sincerely doubt that.”

“How I’ve been acting? You’re the one who keeps on insisting in trying to reveal Lila. You know how she’ll get upset and akumatized.”

“And that’s worse than me getting upset and akumatized?”

“Of course not, but I didn’t know you were Ladybug and I didn’t take you for someone who would be so upset by such trivial things.”

“Her lying is a ‘trivial thing’?” She needed someone to hold her back before she did anything she would regret. Adrien really didn’t see anything past himself and his own feelings, did he? _What did I ever see in him?_

“Well, of course. I mean her lies weren’t hurting anyone.”

Marinette smiled sardonically and let out a tiny forced laugh. “My sketchbook was full of designs before it was torn apart by the class. Those were designs I had worked hard on, so yeah, I’m feeling a little hurt. But those designs aren’t what I’m truly upset about. What do you think will happen when the class finds out she lied? That they’ll just go about their daily life? If you think that, then you’re either incredibly naive or stupid. They are going to be devastated. Because all their hopes and dreams will be torn to shreds just like my book was today. And when they find out you knew? Betrayal and guilt will eat them right up. And this time I won’t be there for you or them to mend things with me. I will forgive them. I forgive you. But I will not forget. Things will never be the same between us. You are a great crime fighter and partner Chat, but… I can’t be with you romantically or even platonically right now. Maybe we can be friends again in the future, but for now- for now we are on hold- at least until you learn what it truly means to be a good friend. I can trust you with my life in an akuma attack, but I can’t trust you with my everyday life.”

“Marinette. You said you wouldn’t be there for them or me to mend things with you. What are you-”

“I’m changing schools. I already talked to my teachers and my parents. They all said it’s fine.”

“But- but you can’t leave! I’m sorry for all the stuff I did and of suspecting you to be using the peacock miraculous to help Hawkmoth, but you have to admit I had a good reason! You were always disappearing during akuma attacks and lying about where you were during them. You had also been trying so hard to unveil Lila’s lies, that it looked like you were trying to help turn her into the next akuma!”

Marinette really needed to go lie down. “I was defending myself and trying to protect the class. She was using them and my work for her own selfish reasons. If I had told the class she was a liar quietly without her knowledge, they would have taken me for a backstabber, at least once Lila got word of it and said something about it. I spoke the truth and did my best to prove her wrong to try and help them. I did my part Adrien. And now I’m done. They can deal with the rest. I’m too tired for any of this. I’m upset, sure, but mostly, I’m just worn out and don’t want to deal with this stressful situation anymore.”

“You’re giving up? Aren’t you a hero? You’re being a coward.”

“A person once told me that ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing’. I did stand up to Lila and I did attempt to show them the truth. But I can’t do this forever Adrien. I’m only a human.” Marinette paused, taking a breath, looking to the stars for guidance on how to tell him what he needed to hear. It wouldn’t be what he wanted to hear. _But everyone needs to face the hard truth sometimes. No matter how much it hurts._

“I want to think you are a good person Adrien, I really do. But time and time again you have done nothing to prevent everyday evils, rather instead enabling them to do as they please without consequences. I admit, I am not perfect. I have my flaws, but at least I recognize them and try to fix them. I want you to do the same.”

“And after that you’ll go on a date with me right?” Adrien’s masked face looked up at her, hopeful and expectant that once the mistakes were fixed, everything would go back to the way it was, but better. With her loving him and him loving her without barriers and masks.

“No.” Chat gaped at her in shock which quickly twisted into a confused exasperation.

“What? You’re joking, right M’lady? We’re yin and yang. Two halves that make a whole. We’re supposed to end up together!”

“People change. We can grow or stay the same or recede during our whole life. A person is ever changing. So, to say that a person can only have one soulmate isn’t strictly true, because there is a lot of other people who can fill that ‘half’. Some fit better than others. Sometimes a whole relationship can change together and experience new things. And sometimes a relationship will fall apart because the two people don’t fit together anymore, Chat.”

“So you’re saying we don’t fit together anymore?”

“I’m saying that we’ve changed so much on our own that our halves that once fit together don’t work together and in sync anymore outside of our superhero duties.”

Chat had gone still, no longer agitated, but shocked and upset. His hands hung limply at his sides and his shoulders were hunched with defeat.

“So, no matter what I do, you will never love me?”

“I didn’t say that. I still care about you. I still care about the class. But I’m no longer am going to interact with them because it’s costing me too much. I understand that you were only trying to do what you deemed best. But you need to understand that you can’t be a bystander or force people to do things they don’t want to do. After you do that, then I’ll start considering being your friend again.”

“But not my girlfriend?”

“No. You and I are too different to pursue a serious relationship. Maybe one day in the future we can be together, but as as of now, I don’t harbor any romantic feelings towards you.”

Chat’s green eyes met hers and soon enough Marinette watched his form, retreating as silently as he had come.

“So Marinette, how do you feel?”

“Tired in all senses of the word.”


	3. Morality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

It was only the next morning when Adrien awoke in tears to the realization of just how badly he had screwed up.

“I lost my chance with the love of my life Plagg. I can never win her back.”

“Yeah, but who needs girls? You should try some Camembert. Or Brie. Or literally any other type of cheese. Just drop it. You two fell out of sync. I’ve seen it happen to plenty of Cats and Ladybugs. It’s quite common actually.”

“Do they end up together in the end?”

“Only if it’s a misunderstanding. Sorry kid, you messed this one up big time. There is no coming back from it.”

Adrien’s eyes began to water again and Plagg couldn’t help, but feel a bit bad for the kid.

Then again, the kid hadn’t helped Marinette when the whole class had staged an impromptu attack on her, despite her being nothing but kind and honest to them. And later, after Marinette had fled the room, Adrien had ignored his pleas to gather more evidence before speaking with Marinette. Then, even later, the dense human had brushed off his criticism about how he had handled the whole situation. Plagg’s eyes narrowed as he contemplated how to handle his weeping holder. _I can’t tell him he still has a shot, because while he will feel better, he will do everything to win Marinette over and won’t do things for the right reasons. I can’t let him go on like this either. Oh for the love of Camembert, Tikki is so much better at this._

“Okay kid, I’m gonna tell it to you straight. You’ve messed up big time and she won’t take you back after what you’ve done. However, you shouldn’t let this get you down. She was right with what she had said. You need to acknowledge your mistakes, fix them and get up and move on. There are plenty of fish in the sea waiting. So jeez kid, take control over your life before I raid your sock drawer for the perfect smelly sock to dry your tears with.” Adrien’s emerald eyes gaped at him bewildered before they took on a dogged determination. “You’re right! I’m going to stop crying, get up and…”

“Tell them Lila lied!”

“Ask Kagami on a date!”

“Wait, what?”

“You’re right Plagg. I need to stop crying and go on a date with Kagami. Then maybe Marinette will get jealous and admit she loves me.”

“Did you not listen to anything I said? That’s a horrible idea right now!”

“I did listen. That’s why I’m going to fix my mistake with Marinette by getting Kagami to be my girlfriend. Then Marinette will realize I have matured and will fall in love with me again and we’ll get married, have three kids on a deserted island and a pet hamster named-”

“Adrien. I need you to listen now and listen good. You’ve messed up so badly that she fell out of love with you. There is no coming back from that. What you have to do now is focus on your own personal growth. Then, once you can for the most part take care of yourself, you may date someone. Do you understand?”

“Yeah. And I think you’re just being cynical.”

Most days like this, Plagg would be scarfing down cheeses by the barrel to curb his growing sense of helplessness at the boy’s oblivious and destructive tendencies. “Adrien…”

“Relax. Let’s go. Nathalie’s waiting for me downstairs.”

Plagg sighed. _This kid is going to be my undoing._

* * *

 

“Hey Kagami. Those were some pretty impressive hits.”

“Thank you Adrien. I hope you have been practicing, because I have. I warn you now that I will win.”

“I have no doubt about that. Actually there’s something I would like to ask you.”

“What is it Adrien?” Adrien felt the temperature of the room go up. His mind was screaming at him that this was wrong, but at the same time he didn’t have any better options. Outing Lila to the class would only cause devastation and blame. It would drive a stake in the friendships created in the class. _Especially in your friendship with Nino and Alya._ Adrien squirmed uncomfortably, his hand flying to the base of his neck and his eyes darting to find anything other than Kagami’s patient smile.

“You were right. I needed to change targets. Would you go out on a date with me? Just the two us this time. I promise.”

Adrien’s eyes finally dared to look at Kagami. She didn’t look satisfied like he had expected her to be. Her mouth formed a grim line and her eyes rather than sparkling with warmth were almost regretful.

“I apologize Adrien, but I’m going to have to decline your offer.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m sure you are a lovely person, but it’s quite clear to see that you are lying to me and still not over Marinette.”

“What?”

“You were obviously paying more attention to her than me on our date. I find it distasteful how she pushed herself to attend our date, but it was an eye opener for me that you still love her despite her rejection of you. Quite honestly, that was what helped me realize that I didn’t want to have you for a romantic partner.”

“Marinette wasn’t the one who rejected me! I mean she was, but at the same time she didn’t know she was rejecting me!”

“How is that so?”

“We met online playing video games a while back. We would hear each other’s voices while we played, but we never revealed our faces. That day when I gave you the rose I asked her to meet up with me in the park, but she refused. She often told me that we were friends but she saw me as nothing more, so I thought her meeting me in person would change that.”

Adrien paused reflecting to see how believable the story was. _I do spend all my time at home and do have access to video games and the internet. It also isn’t too far fetched, considering I had qualified for that video game competition._

“Anyway, she found out who I was accidentally and then revealed herself to me. The problem is she doesn’t love me anymore after the whole Lila incident.”

“You mean that Italian girl who tries to force others to bend to her every whim? The one who lies and cheats to get what she desires?”

“Uh, yeah? That would be her.”

“What, did she side with her? I wouldn’t be surprised considering I saw her working with Chloé to stop you from hanging out with me during that premiere.”

“What? No. Lila lied and Marinette tried to tell the whole class, but no one believed her. I mean, I did because I knew Lila was a liar, but I believed it would be better to, you know…”

“Expose her in secret to the class so that she doesn’t exact revenge upon you immediately so you have time to prepare your defense. That’s ingenious.”

Adrien felt the room temperature spike again and wondered briefly if the thermostat was broken as just moments before he had felt a cold chill crawl up his spine.

“Uh… that’s not what happened.”

Kagami’s look that had been looking at him in approval was now colder than he had ever seen it.

“What did you do Agreste?”

“I told Marinette to stay silent and take the high road as to not expose Lila.”

“I see.”

“But that’s not what made her have such a problem with me.”

“So what was?”

“I may or may not have not defended her when the whole class ruined her sketchbook.”

Kagami’s glare seemed to be directed at his heart and never had Adrien felt more fear than in that very moment, not even when Ladybug had ended up in the dinosaur’s maw. Adrien’s voice wavered as he desperately tried to backtrack to explain his reasoning.

“In my defense, Lila and Alya had found out she wasn’t in the bathroom like she said she had been during the akuma attack, and Lila had made a highly plausible inference that Marinette was working with Hawkmoth.”

“But none of you were completely sure that she was working with him an-”

“But Lila has made good points on how Marinette wasn’t there during akuma attacks! She made a good point on how Marinette hadn’t been akumatized yet and how Marinette was constantly upset with her!”

“Did you ever stop to think why Marinette was trying to reveal the truth about Lila?”

That gave Adrien a pause. _Why was she trying to reveal Lila’s lies?_

“Adrien, I’ve heard positive opinions about Marinette from our fencing peers and have seen plenty of articles praising her talent. I had always looked upon her actions with distaste and ignored all the positive opinions of her instead passing them off as the mad ravings of our peers. I still frown upon some things she has done, like work with Chloé or have that wall of photos of you, but I understand that they were mistakes that she has fixed and learned from. For you to allow the class to ruin her sketchbook, a book in which all her passions had lay, while she was only trying to help, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth at the memories of me calling you a good friend.”

“What- what are you saying Kagami?”

“I’m saying that I’ve misjudged Marinette and will go apologize to her after this. I’m saying that you have made the wrong decisions and are making the wrong decision in coming here to find someone who understands your cowardice ways. I’m saying that I cannot be acquainted with a boy who allows for the baseless persecution of a person who is innocent and has been nothing but selfless.”

Kagami’s sharp voice dug into his very soul and Adrien felt as if Frozer had returned and had taken each of his ribs and replaced them with icicles.

“I recommend you wear a chest protector today. After what you’ve done, you should be grateful I’m giving you this warning.”

“I only told her to not tell anybody that Lila was lying. It wasn’t hurting anyone.”

Adrien felt his heart constrict. This wasn’t good. _My friendships are dropping like flies over one paltry predicament._

“Wasn’t hurting anyone? Agreste you must be out of your mind if you think this wasn’t hurting anyone. Marinette was hurt by her lies and everyone who has been lied to by her will feel extremely hurt when they realize she tricked them. Marinette has been doing the right thing trying to expose Lila because it would hurt less to find out from someone that she is a liar than it is to find out when the promises aren’t coming true. But as long as it’s not hurting you it’s fine, isn’t it?”

Adrien opened his mouth and promptly closed it. _There isn’t anything I can say here, is there?_

“Do me a favor Agreste and don’t speak to me again. I refuse to associate with someone with such flimsy morals.”


	4. Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

Marinette grinned as she tore through her room, tossing photos of her old classmates into a tin can.

There was quite a bit of items that reminded her of her past class (including her trunk filled with gifts for Adrien for the future), but right now she was just focusing on the photographs. She didn’t need the reminder of what had happened and she had new pictures she wanted to put up anyway.

Tikki flitted around Marinette’s head, doing her best to keep up Marinette’s rapid fire movements, but the teenage girl moved like a neat tornado, ripping down photographs, placing red sticky notes on things that she would deal with later, and cleaning up small areas before noticing and snatching another photograph. _How long has she been working? Surely for three hours now at least. I hope she doesn’t push herself. She needs to take a break._

“So Marinette, are you sure I can’t help with anything?”

“No Tikki. I have to do this on my own. It’s my way of healing I suppose. Since now I’ve cut ties with them, I will make sure no loose strings remain in any corner of my room. I needed to do some spring cleaning anyway.”

“Okay Marinette. Just make sure to take a break. You’ve been working for three hours.”

Marinette hummed in response and stacked the books on her desk into a neat pile before snatching a picture of Adrien from the back of her computer. _I have to take a more definite stance on this, don’t I?_

“Marinette, you should really take a break. Why don’t we take a break on the patio. You can water your plants while you’re there.”

At that, Marinette twisted to face Tikki, but her foot caught on the leg of her chair and Marinette fell forward, her arms splaying out to catch herself while the can in her arms clattered to the floor. The photographs scattered all over the floor and Marinette sighed.

“Are you okay Marinette? You’re not hurt are you?”

“No maman. I fell and dropped something. I’m not hurt.”

“Okay sweetie! Remember, you can always tell us if something is bothering you!”

Marinette sighed and picked herself up off the floor eyeing the newly made mess.

“Okay Tikki, let’s go. All that cleaning has made me hungry anyway.”

* * *

Kagami’s hand rested on the car door handle and she wondered if it was too late to back out now. _Stick to it Kagami. You made a mistake and now you are fixing it. It is the honorable thing to do._

Kagami steadied her hand and expelled a slow calming breath. She hated when she made mistakes, especially ones so severe and blatantly obvious. But she couldn’t let herself go on in life without ever attempting to fix her mistake. _If Marinette doesn’t accept my apology then that’s a problem on her end, not mine. I will do my best to reconcile and will explain the situation. I do however hope we can be friends. I have always wanted to try one of her family’s pastries. I heard they are quite good._

Kagami’s hand tightened around the door handle and she stepped out of the car, beginning her walk to the bakery, each step strengthening her resolve.

Kagami swung the door open and watched as a startled customer dropped their croissant on the floor. Somehow the customer managed to fumble and catch the book they were reading, but as far as she could tell they had lost their spot, if their glaring was anything to go off of. She winced. _I should probably be a bit less intimidating when I’m talking to her parents._

The bakery wasn’t very occupied, with only a few customers loitering around checking out the selection of pastries. The smell of the baked goods was thick in the air, weaving itself around each person and guiding them by their stomach.

Kagami strode over to the counter and looked into the eyes of who she presumed was Marinette’s mother.

“I’m here to visit Marinette. May I go upstairs to visit her?”

“I’m sorry dear. With everything that’s going on, I don’t know if Marinette would like to see you. Who are you?”

“My name is Kagami Tsurugi. I wish to speak with Marinette to clear up a misunderstanding that took place.”

Sabine’s eyes narrowed and she looked upon Kagami with suspicion.

“Did this misunderstanding have anything to do with that horrid lying girl?”

“You mean Lila? No. I had but one encounter with her and it was clear that she is a malicious person willing to stoop to any level to hurt people as long as she benefits from it.” Kagami felt her blood boil and clamped her teeth down at the thought of the other girl.

She had only spoken with Lila for a few minutes after her and Adrien’s fencing match a few weeks ago, and she hadn’t come out of the conversation without wanting to sink her blade in the other girl’s flesh. Lila had claimed that she knew the fencer who won the world championship personally. That enough had Kagami upset, but when she claimed Kagami had only won because of a fluke, an peculiar stroke of luck, Kagami had been seething. The only reason that girl wasn’t a pile of rotting flesh and bones was because Adrien joined in on the conversation and Lila immediately started clinging to his arm, while Adrien tried to defend Kagami for every degrading comment Lila had made about Kagami. _The_ _fact that Adrien did nothing about her should have tipped me off on how little backbone Adrien has. By being a bystander he is being just as bad as she._

A warm hand rested on her shoulder and Kagami, startled out of her train of thought, violently jerked her shoulder back from the sudden contact.

Sabine’s wide inquiring eyes met her own and she shrugged, unclenching her hands and slipping back into a mask of poise.

“I apologize. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay dear. I surprised you. It happens all the time.”

“You surprise people?”

“Not often, but from time to time.” A silence settled over the two of them and Kagami frowned.

“So, is there no way in which I can speak with Marinette?”

“Hmm. Wait here. I’ll speak with Marinette.” Sabine smiled at her and briskly moved away from the counter.

Kagami took the time to examine the other people in the pastry shop. There were two girls gazing wistfully at the macarons and the guy who had dropped his croissant earlier. The guy who had dropped his croissant was leaning against the wall reading his book, a frown etched in his face.

Kagami turned to face the counter again. _There’s no point in observing them. Now if one of them was juggling knives… well then we’d have a point._

The corner of Kagami’s lips curved upward at her clever pun when suddenly a flurry of pink came crashing down the stairs.

“Oh no! Are you okay?” Kagami ran around the counter and kneeled down to where Marinette lay in a heap.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Here, let me help you up. That was quite a fall.”

Kagami held out her hands and after a second of hesitation Marinette took her hands and looked up at her, her hair a bit disheveled from the fall. Kagami felt her heart pound in her ears and she would have sworn the thermometer was broken since the temperature had risen significantly. A bell rung in the background and Kagami barely registered the absence of the three individuals that had been lingering in the store. Eventually, after some weird fumbling that Kagami would never in a million year admit to, Marinette was on her feet.

“Yeah. Ow. Yep, that’s definitely gonna bruise in the morning.”

“You really should be more careful Marinette.”

“Well usually I am, but it’s a mess up there. But nevermind all that. What are you doing here Kagami? My maman said something about you wanting to clear some misunderstanding up?” Marinette seemed nervous, her eyes were downcast as if she was expecting some form of attack, and in consideration of how everything had rolled out in the past, Kagami wasn’t surprised in the least by the girl’s reaction.

“Yes. I would like to apologize for treating you so coldly everytime we met. I had assumed that you had been leading Adrien on for your own amusement, but then Adrien let me know that was not the case and then I found out about what happened with Lila and the class and I just feel awful. You’re a great person Marinette and I had severely misjudged you. I sincerely wish that you accept this apology as I wish to become your friend.”

Marinette’s astonished eyes met Kagami’s and soon a pair of arms wrapped around Kagami and Marinette’s face pressed into the soft scarlet fabric of Kagami’s turtleneck. Marinette’s muffled voice barely reached Kagami’s ears as her heart was to busy pounding out of her chest at the other girl’s closeness.

“I’m sorry. What was that Marinette?”

_I couldn’t hear you over the sound of my palpitating heart._

“I said that I’ll forgive you as long as you forgive me. I had treated you horribly during the movie premiere and really any other event in which we have met up at.”

Marinette’s bluebell eyes, a hue that even the clearest sky couldn't compete with, looked into Kagami’s warm brown eyes, a shade that the earth’s richest goods couldn’t ever measure up to in terms of warmth or depth. Kagami felt her breath get caught in her throat.

“Uh. Yeah.” Kagami cursed her weak lungs and how unsure and quiet her words were. _I’m not weak. I can do this._ “I forgive you.”

Marinette let go and stepped away from Kagami, and Kagami may have mourned the loss of the girl for a few seconds, but then Marinette sent Kagami a dazzling smile and Kagami’s brain scattered into a million different directions, none of them being the original reason for her visit. _Oh yeah. I still need to talk to her about that._

“There is one more thing I need to talk with you about.”

“What is it?”

“I just want to make sure that if you get any future crushes, that you won’t go about the whole thing the same way. You know, with all those pictures and all. I want you to know that I’m going to be working on being less possessive, so you wouldn’t be the only person working on themself and wouldn’t need to feel ashamed about your past actions or anything around me. I know how bad things can get with a crush, especially if you hadn’t felt that way before or haven’t been told how to go about crushes, like me.”

“Yeah. Well, we both know what not to do now, right? It’s a learning experience. I hadn’t felt that way before and the only person guiding me on how to act near my crush was Alya, who constantly just kept telling me to never give up on Adrien, no matter what happened. Then when I didn’t she would claim that I’m possessive over him. Nevermind the fact that I helped him with his date with you. Anyway, I definitely won’t be doing that again. It took over too many aspects of my life, so much so, that I almost never thought of anything but Adrien. I admit I should have probably controlled or recognized how unhealthy my actions were, but I can’t change them now, can I?” Marinette smiled, but it didn’t seem as bright and Kagami felt unsettled.

“Well no, but now you’re my friend and together we will learn on how to control our vices.”

“And classmate.”

“What?”

“We’re also classmates.”

“Wait, you transferred to the International School Honoré-De-Balzac?”

“Yep. We’re actually seatmates in our mathematics class.”

“But I was moved up a grade. You moved up a grade?”

Marinette shrugged.

“I passed the placement test with flying colors. By the way, why weren’t you at school today?”

“My mother takes me out of school each Friday to practice for the matches. I get the work for the day ahead of time.”

“That’s a bit intense.”

“Yeah, but we care about our image and I cannot be less than perfect when in public. I don’t mind the practices though. It gives me time to let out my frustrations.”

An understanding hum emitted from the girl in pink, before she clapped her hands together excitedly.

“Would you like to stay for some tea Kagami? We could get to know each other better and after all this talking, you must be parched.”

Kagami’s lips twitched upward as she looked at her new target. She had at first misjudged the sweet girl, but now that she had had a true taste, Kagami would fight to win her affection fair and square. _I’m not going to control her, but I will fight for her until I can’t._

“I would love some.”


	5. Torrent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

Marinette fidgeted on the bench in the park, twisting her lucky charm from Luka back and forth as she stared at the poor boy in front of her. The shade of the tree covered him and he had heavy bags under his eyes. His hair was running wild and he looked exhausted as if he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. In short, the boy looked positively miserable and heartbroken.

“So… what happened?”

“Juleka and I got into a fight.”

“What?”

“I was talking about how I was so glad you transferred to my school, when she got this bitter look on her face. Her nose scrunched up and she told me to stay away from you, saying that you would hurt me when you had the chance. When I said that that’s not possible, she said that that’s just what you did to the old class and-” Luka’s voice caught and Marinette, felt her heart constrict. Luka had tears welling in his eyes and his voice wavered, raw painful emotions flooding into his speech.

“She told me to stay away from you, but I said no and then she said that she won’t speak to me until I see the truth.”

With that the dam opened and all the hurt Luka was holding flowed free and Marinette hugged him unable to say anything and the two of them sat on the bench, as Marinette tried to soothe his sorrow.

After a while, Luka pulled back, his hands rubbing awkwardly at his eyes trying to dry any stray tears and he smiled, not in a happy manner, but in a genuine gratefulness for someone’s support.

“Thank you Marinette. I needed that. Can I- can I ask you something?”

“Of course Luka.”

“What exactly happened with the class? No one’s telling me what went down, all of them just huffing at your name and telling me not to associate with you.”

Marinette sighed and looked down as all the sorrow she had put off, flooded her senses and caused the tears to swell in her eyes. The scene around her became blurry and all of her fury and all of her pain hit her at last as she remembered the solid two months after Lila had come, in which everyone had been wary of her like she was some horrible virus they didn’t want to catch. _They didn’t even consider that I might be right! Lila had them wrapped all around her little finger!_ Marinette’s breath came out fast and uneven and her thoughts became more frantic.

Suddenly, Luka’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and he started rocking side to side on the bench humming a relaxing tune.

“It’s okay Marinette. Take it slow. You don’t have to tell me what happened if you’re not ready.”

“No, I want to. Thank you though. It all started with this girl, Lila. She had transferred to our school and kept lying about everything. I tried to call her out on it, but no one listened and when they finally did, they accused me of being jealous. Slowly Lila turned them all against me. First she did small things like make it seem I had tripped someone up or had stolen something of hers. It slowly escalated from that, but no one in the class noticed and if they did, they just didn’t care, thinking me to be some monster who deserved it.”

Marinette’s heavy woeful tears dropped like stones as she recalled how they all hadn’t cared when they had taken apart her one solace that had grounded her and had kept her from snapping during those two months. She mourned their conscience when the regret would come rolling in after the truth would come to light.

But most of all, she grieved the loss of her friends, of how all their friendships had been torn brutally apart, and how all the unity that they had achieved as a class would come undone allowing distrust to once again reign supreme.

Marinette took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

“Lila convinced them that I was so horrible that I was working with Hawkmoth. In retaliation they-” Marinette’s voice broke. She didn’t want to remember the lifeless shreds of her designs. She didn’t want to remember their animosity towards her or their hands grabbing whichever pages they could not caring about anything except themselves. Marinette pressed on.

“They… they ripped apart my sketchbook which up until that point was the only thing that had left me stable against all the torrents of hatred. So I left. I couldn’t handle it anymore. It wasn’t sane or healthy for me. I forgive them for it all, but…”

“But what?”

“I’m not going back there if it is that easy to pass a blind eye towards someone’s suffering just because someone tells them a story. They meant well. They do mean well. But that place got too toxic for me and I can’t return and live in the fear that they will all turn on me again.”

Marinette finally looked up and met Luka’s enraged eyes.

“So this Lila is manipulating everyone?”

“Yeah. She is using them all for her own gain.”

Luka’s eyes hardened and then he looked down at her and smiled, his eyes softening in fondness.

“Want to go have lunch with the others before we all go home?”

“Yeah. Why not? Unless you want to sit out here and have lunch. I brought a blanket and some clothes with me to dry someone off after the rain this morning, but no one was soaking wet, so it’s still dry. It seems like a nice day anyway.”

Luka looked on in wonder at the leaves covered in some raindrops from earlier on in the day and then back at Marinette.

“Yeah it is a nice day. Call the others here. It will be good to get some fresh air anyway. Those stuffy rooms get pretty uncomfortable anyway.”

“They are not that stuffy.”

“Says the person who sits next to a window in nearly every class.”

“Oh, shush.”

* * *

A serene atmosphere filled Square Des Batignolles as the group of friends hung out underneath the warm inviting sun.

The group of friends sat on a beautifully handcrafted blanket out on the grass all them in a close circle. Marinette smiled observing all of her friends quietly. To her left she could hear Kagami discussing with Mireille and Aurore and to her right she heard the quiet strumming of Luka’s guitar and the nearly inaudible turn of a page of someone who was apparently Aurore’s brother (she had never caught his name, but then again it had never been offered to her). Marinette laid back against the tree, her hands behind her head, feeling, for the first time in a while, at peace.

“I wish moments like these could last.”

The blond haired boy glanced at her from behind his book, an eyebrow raised at the peculiar, though quite common sentiment which he agreed on.

“They do last. Not long, but long enough for some respite.”

“Some respite isn’t always enough though, especially if one is working themselves to the bone for those who don’t care in the end.”

“People are horrible and selfish. You just have to deal with them.”

“How?”

“By telling them to shove their attitude up their- mmph!”

Aurore’s hand flew to the blond boy’s mouth and she shot him a death glare.

“Language Félix, or you might wake up with all of your books having been returned to the library before you finished them.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“You monster.”

Aurore simply smiled and winked at Félix who had already grabbed his book and was holding it tightly to his chest, glaring at Aurore.

Marinette felt herself smile at her two siblings antics.

“That reminds me, I have a question for you Aurore.”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you transfer schools? If you don’t want to say, then that’s fine, but I’m just curious.”

“Well, at the beginning of the year I had begged to go there because of all the famous people that would be attending and because of all the networking I could do to get myself as the weather girl, but after all those akumas, I felt that it was impacting my education. So, I transferred here and since my brother was already attending here, I didn’t feel too left out. Then Mireille transferred here after means everything got so much better.” Aurore smiled and grabbed Mireille’s hand, looking into her eyes lovingly as Mireille blushed a deep red.

“Aww. That’s so cute and sweet!”

“Yeah. I’m so lucky to have Aurore in my life. I spent a week without her and I don’t want that to ever happen again.” This time Aurore blushed and Marinette wondered if she would ever find someone like that. Someone who didn’t leave her to deal with things on her own and would allow her to be her own person. _I guess only time will tell._

* * *

Juleka was not having a good day. The night before she had had a horrible argument with Luka and now she almost regretted telling him that she wouldn’t speak with him until he saw reason. But she had made that promise to herself and would keep it, no matter how difficult it was not to speak with her brother in the morning.

It hadn’t helped matters that while she had rode her bike to school, there had been a downpour and she had fallen in a puddle, resulting in all of her clothes being soaked through and through. A few other classmates had the same problem, and she recalled how Marinette had often brought them extra dry clothing to change into and a blanket to wrap themselves in if the atmosphere was especially cold.

When she had recalled this to Lila, Lila told her that Marinette had likely done that to get them on her side, to gain their trust.

Juleka had been a little confused with this concept because if Marinette has truly been out for them, wouldn’t she have done a minimal amount of nice things? However, before she could dwell on what that could mean, Rose had thanked Lila and taken Juleka away, back to their desk.

Nonetheless, the argument she had with her brother plagued her throughout the whole class and she resolved to put an end to it.

_If he doesn’t see reason, I’ll bring reason to him._


	6. Blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

Juleka carefully watched the Italian girl, hoping to catch her before the day was over to get proof. She had already asked Rose to send Prince Ali a letter to confirm that he knows Lila, but she wanted to make sure her brother couldn’t dispute anything. _If I can get some proof from her, then I can show Luka and he will realize that he was in the wrong. Then we can finally talk again, and everything will be-_

The sound of the bell cut Juleka’s thoughts off and she leaped from her seat rushing to Lila hoping to get some help.

“Hey Lila.”

“Oh, hi Juleka! Are you here for the Jagged Stone autograph? Because I swear I can explain, you see-”

“Oh, I’m not here for that. I want to get some proof.”

Juleka thought she saw a flash of displeasure and suspicion flash across the other girl’s in the face, but it was gone quickly, being replaced by a pleasant smile.

“Proof? For what?”

“For the things you’ve been saying. My brother, Luka, doesn’t believe that Marinette is dangerous. I need to get proof to get him to stay away from her. If I can prove what you’ve told us is true, then he will know that your claim that Marinette is dangerous is true and I can get him to stay away from her.”

“Of course I’ll help you Juleka. By the way, I didn’t know your brother was still in contact with that monster…”

“Yeah. Apparently she transferred to his school.”

“Do you happen to know which school? So we can warn them of course.”

“Yeah, it’s the International School Honoré De Balzac. Actually Aurore and Mireille transferred there recently, a few weeks before Marinette did. They might be able to help us out.”

“Aurore and Mireille?”

“Two girls that are in my brother’s class now. They’re both the weather girls for the news and Paris’s second favorite power couple, after Ladybug and Chat Noir, of course. Rose and I went on double dates with them sometimes. They are an adorable couple.”

“Weather girls? Do you think they could help protect Paris by getting the message around that Marinette should be avoided?”

“Maybe, as long as they haven’t talked with my brother or Marinette yet. We don’t know if Marinette has tricked them into believing she’s good yet.”

“Good. Okay, I’ll do the research, you know, getting the proof and everything, while you try to get ahold of someone famous with a lot of influence to expose that villain to the world.”

* * *

Adrien laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling reviewing everything. _I need to figure out when this all went wrong. I need to know who is responsible for this whole mess. Because if it isn’t Marinette, then who? The class? Lila? Alya? Me?_

Adrien sighed. He needed to take everything into consideration. _I need to get information._

He snatched his phone and scrolled through his contacts to find the person who had likely been by Marinette’s side when it had all started.

“Hi Adrien. What’s up?”

“We need to talk. Meet me at the park, five o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“Wha-”

Adrien’s thumb pressed the end call button and he started getting ready, ignoring his vibrating phone.

* * *

“Hi. Thank you for meeting here with me Alya.”

“Sure Adrien. Your phone call sounded pretty ominous though. What’s up?”

“I have a few questions about Marinette.”

Alta’s face fell and a look of hostile intentions passed through her eyes and her grip on her phone tightened.

“Yeah?”

“When Lila first really came into our class and had changed around all those seats, why didn’t you stand up for Marinette?”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, that came out wrong. What I mean is why didn’t you believe Marinette’s claims that Lila was lying?”

“Well, she had a crush on you, a crazy big one too. She was just being jealous like always.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Hadn’t she gone on a double date with me and Kagami? As far as I know, she hadn’t tried to sabotage it or anything.” Alya frowned.

“Yeah, but that was like, one instance. Sure later on when you went on that train with Kagami for that fancy party she hadn’t tried to sabotage it either, but like, she had been jealous.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. She let it go though. It’s weird. With Kagami, she was more or less resigned, but Lila and Chloé really riled her up. Either way, I’m glad to not deal with her drama anymore.”

“Is- is it possible that she wasn’t jealous of Lila and Chloé, but rather she just didn’t like them?”

“Please Adrien, if she just didn’t like them, then she would need a good reason to dislike them. I would get Chloé, cause she’s a brat, but Lila? Anyway, if she did simply dislike them, then that would mean I’m a bad friend, Adrien for blaming it on jealousy. And I’m a good friend, right? Anyway, this is ridiculous Adrien! We all know that Marinette was lying and manipulating us!”

Adrien felt himself wince and he briefly hoped Alya hadn’t noticed it.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You flinched.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did. When I said Marinette was lying and manipulating us.”

Adrien recoiled again and Alya’s eyes narrowed.

“Agreste, you better tell me right now what you know, otherwise I will invite Chloé to hang out with us.”

Adrien felt his resolve to not tell the class that Lila lied weaken. _Well, looks like I won’t get the chance to figure out who is to blame all of this._ Adrien let out a deep breath. _Oh, this is going to go horribly, isn’t it?_

“Spit it out Adrien.”

“Okay, so Marinette wasn’t the one who was manipulating us.”

“Don’t be  foolish. What about all her disappearances? What about all her acerbic comments towards Lila? What about-”

“Lila was the one lying Alya!”

“What?” Alya’s voice was barely over a whisper, stunned that Adrien rose his voice.

“Lila lied. I was there when Ladybug had called her out. I didn’t think that Lila was hurting anyone.”

“But why didn’t you defend her?”

“Because I thought that she might actually be working with Hawkmoth!”

“So, what happened for the high and mighty Adrien Agreste to change his mind?” Alya’s glare cut him deep, and he wondered not for the first time if it would have just been better to keep his mouth shut.

“I got proof of her helping others during an akuma attack in the form of others thanking her for her help during the akuma attacks.”

_Technically, I’m not wrong. People talk about how Ladybug helped them on television all the time._

“She would prioritize the safety of all others over her own. Rather than staying put during an akuma attack and staying safe she risked her own neck to help others.”

“Oh.”

Alya’s hands fiddled with the Ladybug charm she has attached to her phone and Adrien wondered if he could help somehow.

“I know this is difficult an-”

“You hadn’t warned us.”

“What?”

“You knew Lila was lying and rather than letting us know, you let her continue.”

“Well, I didn’t think-”

“That’s right Adrien. You didn’t think. You didn’t think about anyone except you. You didn’t think about how hurt the whole class will be when they find out she lied. You didn’t think about how badly, us, your friends will take it when you didn’t try to prevent us from looking and feeling like fools. You didn’t think about me, you didn’t think about Nino who is your best friend, and you certainly didn’t think about Marinette who would always put others happiness over hers, especially yours. Who do you think made you that scarf? Because it sure as hell wasn’t your deadbeat father.” Adrien opened his mouth to try and speak, but Alya cut him off.

“And yeah, I’m a bad friend for assuming Marinette’s life revolves around her crushes. Yeah, I was pushy and and stubborn and yeah, I let Lila turn everyone against Marinette, but you know what? I have the decency to acknowledge this without making an excuse about something I suspect a person of. You could have warned the class about her lies and that definitely would have helped us analyze the situation better. And yeah, it is also our own damn fault for not using our minds and thinking through the whole situation, but we trusted Lila because of how Marinette had taught us to trust others. So yeah, I was a bad friend, but with you it was so much worse for Marinette. You knew the truth and never defended her rather sitting idly in your desk, pretending the world isn’t burning up all around you. You can’t keep doing that. Because while you aren’t tossing firewood into the flames, you sure aren’t doing your part to prevent the wildfire from spreading. Please, for your own sake, for my sake, for Nino’s sake or even Marinette’s sake, acknowledge when bad people are doing bad things. I know you’ve been told to not make a scene your whole life, but this, things that hurt you and others? You can’t just let those things happen. Speak up. I know you’ve been raised in an abusive household with a shitty overbearing father that silenced you, but I need you to understand that it is okay to make a scene if you or someone else is being hurt in the process, because then that is not making a scene, but garnering people’s attention to the problem and preventing an even worse situation.”

Adrien paused for a second and finally let out his own feelings.

“I don’t like being touched by Chloé or Lila or being treated like an object or a prize. Also, you said Marinette made that scarf? God, my father is worse than I thought. I’m so glad he went on that trip to Tibet with Nathalie, otherwise I would already be organizing a meeting to yell at him and Nathalie.”

“Yeah, also that is not healthy that you have to organize a meeting just to have your opinion heard.”

Adrien shrugged.

“He doesn’t attend half of them, and he doesn’t listen to me in the ones he does attend. I’ve grown used to it.”

“Remind me to strangle your father and Nathalie in their sleep someday. Anyway, let’s focus. Right now we have to figure out how to let the rest of the class know without getting the members of the class akumatized over it. We all really trusted her, so it’s going to get ugly real quick.”

“And we need to make sure Lila doesn’t find out about any of this until everyone knows and we have everything we need.”

“That’s going to be tricky.”

“You’re telling me? I have to remove all the videos of her from my blog and issue an apology to my viewers for my inaccuracy. I’m going to lose my integrity.”

“Don’t worry Alya.”

“Easy for you to say. It’s not your blog.”

Adrien sighed. “That’s also true. We can’t possibly know how damaging this is going to be to your future.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I posted it without fact checking it in the first place. Well, I have to do it. It’s the first step to making the wrongs right again. Now, how about we grab Nino and go out for some ice cream and chocolate. I need comfort food.”

“Don’t we all?”


	7. Cunning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the whole class destroys the remaining trust and friendship Marinette felt towards them, she moves on to better things, leaving the class doomed to the chaos of Lila’s mischief and misdeeds.

Lila needed a new plan, stat.

It was clear she wasn’t going to be able to keep up this charade any longer if the amount of letters Rose was sending out to Prince Ali was any indication.

Rose had been dumb enough to tell her she and Prince Ali kept in contact through sending letters to each other. And Lila, being the genius she is, of course, had deduced that Juleka’s had already asked Rose to get Ali to confirm her presence in Achu since they kept in touch. 

Now, it hadn’t been easy to break into those mailboxes, but as soon as she had shed a few tears crying about how she had accidentally dropped a love letter that she wasn’t supposed to into the mailbox, other people tended to take over the breaking in.

Of course, it was only fair that they would get caught after the police were notified by the sweetest young girl  in an orange jacket holding a pink letter tightly to her chest.

Lila eyed the stack of letters in her box of things to be shredded. The whole pile gave off a strong old lady perfume smell and was a horrid shade of pink. 

_Ugh. It would be so much easier if someone else could do this for me. But I can’t let anyone know I’ve been intercepting Rose’s letters. Ugggghhh. This is stupid. I need to find a better way to get Marinette. And I still need to find a way to ruin Ladybug._

Lila grit her teeth at the thought of the two good doers.

_They are going to regret ever crossing me. Now think._

Lila’s teeth dragged over her lips in frustration, the previous scab peeling off and the blood staining her teeth, the metallic taste swirling around her tongue. 

It was a bad habit among others, but Lila, despite her mother’s protests, wasn’t one to give up bad habits. Besides, everyone had bad habits. 

“Get yourself the newest issue of the Ladybug comic!”

Lila frowned and glanced out of her window into the park.

_That bitch doesn’t deserve a comic about her. I shoul-_

_Oh._

_Oh ho ho. My, aren’t I clever? Ladybug won’t even see it coming!_

Lila smiled, something unnatural and crooked, and glanced in the mirror to compose herself. 

_Ladybug. You will regret ever crossing me._

Lila moves to her window and leaned out, her hands curling around her mouth like a megaphone to declare her new reign over Paris.

“Hey Nathaniel!”

* * *

Félix didn’t like making friends. Nothing against other people, really, but he preferred fictional characters. 

However, despite what many others believed (ahem, his sister), he wasn’t completely opposed to the prospect of befriending new people. He just… wanted to know some key facts about them before he made any offers of companionship.

So, of course, as soon as Aurore declared that someone named Marinette Dupain-Cheng was to join their group of friends, Félix had done his research, learning as much as he could about her.

He had analyzed her social media accounts and then dug deep into the information he gathered.

He was nothing if not meticulous, and it showed.

And by the end of his research he had all he needed.

Well, almost everything. He just needed to make a personal assessment of Marinette’s character.

He could do that from afar of course, in fact he would, but something like that could not be based solely on the research.

A person’s actions were one matter, and their motivations a whole other.

Félix had learned that lesson a long time ago and he was not going to make the same mistake twice.

It would be unbecoming of him.

So he had visited the Boulangerie Pâtissier. Often.

(Hey, it wasn’t his fault that Marinette was always elsewhere.)

But he was patient.

Day in, day out, he ordered a single croissant to go with his coffee as he waited to get a glance of the elusive Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

And boy, was she elusive.

He remembered a particular incident when her friends, or rather ex-friends, had visited the bakery with an obnoxiously loud braggart. They had rudely badgered Marinette’s parents to give them a discount and Félix had about just enough of their complaining and whining, when he saw Marinette outside with her sketchbook in hand.

He had nearly spat out his coffee.

It shouldn’t have been possible.

It wasn’t possible.

She had just gone upstairs to her room a few minutes ago. He had seen her head up there.

_So how…_

Félix was stumped.

So he did what any other person of a relatively sound mind would do.

He investigated. He examined Marinette’s patio left and right, but there was no rope, no ladder in sight.

After investigating that particular route, he had just been left with a lot more questions and less answers.

Many of those questions involving his own state of mind, but that was another matter that he had decided to tackle later.

But never mind all of that, what was important was finding out what made Marinette tick.

Félix, despite getting glances of her, could not find her motivation.

She didn’t really seem to have any close friends and her former classmates disliked her. She kept to herself and didn’t seem to confide in anyone.

It was… strange. And a tad suspicious. And worrisome.

No one should have to go through that.

* * *

Aurore and Mireille had insisted on coming with him this time. They had fed him (or rather his sister did) some line about wanting to spend more time with him (as if twenty-three out of the twenty-four hours in a day weren’t enough).

So he had taken them. 

(In all honesty, it seemed like a wise choice at the time, as it had been Marinette’s first day in class. Normally, a new student wasn’t big news to him, but since his sister wanted to befriend this… Marinette, he needed to know if Marinette’s motives for coming to the school were of the malevolent kind.)

Needless to say, Aurore had stared at him like he was insane.

“You’re serious? This is where you’ve been going for weeks?”

Félix frowned.

“Yes.”

“But why- oh. Oh, please Félix. Tell me you’re not ‘researching’ Marinette?”

Mireille crossed her arms and looked at him in disapproval.

“No, of course not, don’t be silly.”

Aurore breathed a sigh of relief.

“I am assessing her personality personally now.”

Félix turned his hand on the handle.

“Excuse me, you’re doing what now!”

_Maybe I shouldn’t have said that._

Félix winced.

“I’m getting a croissant?”

He heard Aurore groan.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

“Maybe so. May I remind you, however, that the bakery closes soon?”

“And?”

“And if I’m going to buy you both a treat of your choice, we need to be in there before it closes.”

Aurore huffed, her arms crossing her chest in her utter dissatisfaction with this turn of events.

And then she sighed, her telltale sign of acceptance and grabbed Mireille’s hand

“Deal. This conversation isn’t over though.”

“Sure.”

Félix opened the door.

“I’m serious. When we get home we are talking about your creepy behavior.”

“It’s not that creepy.”

“Mhm. Sure Fé. Tell that to our last babysitter.”

“Wait, what happened to the-”

“Hello. Welcome to the Boulangerie Patisserie. May I take your order?”

Sabine smiled.

Aurore smiled back. “We’ll have two macarons.”

“And a croissant for the young man?”

Félix allowed himself a small smile.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Madame Cheng smiled warmly as she took the money he handed her. 

“No problem dear.”

Félix glanced to Aurore.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Félix rolled his eyes.

“Here you go.”

Marinette’s mother handed him the bag. Aurore snatched it from his hand like a crazed animal and ripped the bag open.

Félix frowned and shook his head as Aurore stuffed her hand in to roam for her and Mireille’s macrons.

Félix’s frown deepened at the thought of his sister’s grubby hands touching his croissant.

“Oh don’t worry Félix. There’s a fresh batch of croissants coming out of the oven right now. I’m going to put yours in a separate bag. If you could please hang on a minute.”

“Of course Madame Cheng.”

She smiled and headed into the kitchen.

Félix was pleasantly surprised at the thoughtful gesture. Not many people took note of his preferences. 

Madame Cheng returned carrying a bag.

“Here you go. A croissant straight out of the oven.”

He took the bag.

“Thank you. I appreciate the thought.”

She beamed back at him.

“No problem dear.”

Félix smiled slightly hoping to convey his gratitude.

She smiled back.

Félix glanced around at his sister who was currently drooling over the hero cupcakes. He sighed and fetched his book from his book bag before walking over to the wall by the door and leaning on it. 

If Aurore had spotted cupcakes, they were going to be there for a long time. And if she had money? Well, he could kiss the rest of the afternoon goodbye. Someone would have to scrape her off the case with a spatula if they wanted her out.

He began to read…

“Bang!”

The croissant he had taken a bite of flew out of his hands, begging to be one with the floor and dirt.

_Not today, you scrumptious little-_

Félix lunged forward. The croissant hit the floor as his hands reached out-

_Wait, hands? My book!_

He caught his book which had thankfully been thrown up into the air in his quest for the croissant and glanced at the page begging physics to have somehow allowed the book to remain open on the page he had been reading from.

Alas, it was too late. He had already lost his page.

He sighed in defeat and glanced up to make the rude individual understand what great loss he had suffered here today, in the place meant to be safe from the humdrum of people.

He glared.

_Why do I feel like I’ve seen that face befo- Kagami?_

Félix squinted as Kagami conversed with Sabine.

_Yeah, no that’s definitely Kagami. Odd._

Perhaps this was his chance.

Kagami, who sat in the front of the class, had proven herself to be diligent and honorable. She had her personal and her mother’s interests in the forefront, but was otherwise nice enough as far as people go.

Félix watched as Kagami conversed with Sabine until Marinette came down the stairs. (Well, if that was what one would call ‘coming’. Really, it was more so a fall, but semantics.)

And then he did what any normal (slightly nosy) person would do. He listened intently to discover what Marinette was after.

“Hey Fé! We got what we want, let’s go!”

“But- but-”

“But nothing. We’re not letting you play stalker today. You can ‘discover her true self’ tomorrow. Today, Mireille and I’ve got a date on the Eiffel Tower.”

“We do?”

Aurore winked at Mireille.

“Oh yeah! We do!”

Félix frowned.

“Okay. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Nuh-uh, you’re coming with us!”

And before Félix had a chance to begin complaining, he was already dragged out the door by his sister.

_Oh well, maybe another time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. I no longer have a schedule. I have not abandoned this fic though, I just have a lot of work.


End file.
